Pregnancy Rituals
The birth of any child is greeted with great joy, not only by the family but by the whole community. From the moment the expectant mother, la parida, announces the exciting news that she is pregnant she is deemed to have special status. Whoever she encounters wishes her a good and easy birth, escapamiento bueno. […]
Pidyon haBen
The pidyon haben (Hebrew: פדיון הבן) or redemption of the first-born son is a mitzvah (commandment) in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is “redeemed” with money. According to the Torah (Hebrew Bible) God intended for the first-born of each Jewish family to be a Kohen – i.e. that family’s representative to the Holy Temple. (Exodus 13:1-2, Exodus 24:5 with Rashi). But […]
Other Childhood Customs
When parents were concerned that their child was not learning how to walk early enough, they took the child to the synagogue. There, the parents tied the child’s feet together with a rope and another person then untied the rope. It was believed that this procedure could make the child begin to walk. When a […]
Las Fadas
In Sephardic communities there is a tradition of welcoming girls with a celebration called zeved habat, or “gift of the daughter.” The name for the ceremony derives from the book of Genesis, in which the matriarch Leah states, following the birth of Zevulun, “Zevedani Elohim oti zeved tov,” or “God has granted me a gift.” In […]
Brit Milah
Brit Milah is the ceremony during which a circumcision is performed on a Jewish baby boy when he is 8 days old. This ceremony remembers the covenant that God made with Abraham and is a symbol of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. It is how Jewish identity is conferred on a baby boy. Brit […]